Tag: Matt Riddle

(Riddle poses with Anthony Johnso…er…Christopher “Big Black” Boykin, a guy so cool that he forces the *fighters* to fist pose in pictures with him. Via Riddle’s Twitter.)

TUF 7‘s Matt Riddle may lack the ability to rid his body of marijuana metabolites in time for a scheduled fight, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that he lacks his own strict moral code. Case in point, following Riddle’s second positive post-fight test for the banned substance at UFC on FUEL 7 and subsequent firing, Riddle told reporters that, should the UFC suddenly want him back after he racks up six or seven wins in the next year or two, he would probably turn them down. It was a bold statement to make, especially considering the ”sickening, depressing nightmare” life outside the UFC has been described as by people like Todd Duffee, who have actually had to experience it.

But as we often (and somewhat ironically) say, “actions speak louder than words.” And if Riddle was seeking to eliminate even the possibility of a UFC return down the line, he has successfully pulled it off. It has recently been announced that Riddle’s Legacy FC contract has been bought out by Bellator, which if recent reports are any indication, is where he shall now remain for the rest of his natural life. Riddle will thusly be participating in the promotion’s upcoming Season 9 welterweight tournament, as he told MMAJunkie:

I had so many options after I left the UFC, but knowing that I was able to compete in a tournament against guys like Paul Daley, Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima, signing with Bellator was an easy decision. This division is just so stacked, and being able to fight in a tournament makes it even better. Bellator is doing a lot of great things right now (Author’s note: Gee, I wonder what he’s REEFERring to *tap dances off stage*), and I want to be a part of it.

“Oh, you’ll be a part of it alright…FOREVER!!! MU HU HA HA HA!” – Bjorn Rebney by way of Ben Goldstein.

Bellator’s welterweight tournament is set to get under way starting in the fall, although no specific dates or venues have yet to be named. Anyone give Riddle a decent chance of making some waves in his new promotion?

In either case, it looks like Riddle will be given plenty of opportunities to do just that in the Texas-based organization Legalize It Legacy Fighting Championships, which Riddle announced he had signed a multi-fight deal with over the weekend via Twitter:

You have to appreciate how Riddle, being the witty bastard that he is, managed to reference both his recent quotes about beating his kids and the State of Texas’ history with blood baths in one masterfully written tweet. That’s what he was doing, right?

And in other news, Riddle’s opponent at UFC on FUEL 7, Che Mills, has successfully landed on his feet as well…

Since being released from the UFC following his second positive test for marijuana in his past three fights, TUF 7 alum Matt Riddle has been doing his damnedest to burn every last bridge that might possibly connect him to the organization he has literally built his entire professional MMA career in. And while Riddle succeeded in raising some interesting questions regarding the UFC’s policy of hiring and firing fighters during his recent interview on The MMA Hour, he also succeeded in completely sabotaging any potential of a return trip to the sport’s highest promotion, which according to him, is something he would prefer:

What I see happening is, a year or two from now the UFC calls me back after I’ve won probably like five or six fights, hopefully. And I’ll probably, at the time, say, ‘No.’ Because I really don’t like the direction they’re taking the company. They’re firing high-level talent so they can have lower level talent just scrap, and they’d rather have a brawl than a good technical fight. I think that’s going to be their downfall, because the fans are getting more educated. They’re getting smarter, and they don’t want to just see a slugfest and two retarded guys with brain damage bleeding everywhere.

Dana White’s response was expectantly blunt. Get it? Blunt? Be honest, that pun is so great you’d probably beat your kids in a fit of jealous rage if you weren’t so goddamn stoned.

For the second time in less than a year, UFC welterweight Matt Riddle has tested positive for marijuana in a post-fight drug test, spurring the UFC to release him from his contract. Riddle’s latest failed test followed his split-decision win over Che Mills at UFC on FUEL 7 in London on February 16th, which came just seven months after his 90-day marijuana suspension following his UFC 149 win over Chris Clements. That victory was later changed to a no-contest, and it’s likely that Riddle’s latest win will be overturned as well.

Riddle was already on thin ice with the UFC because of the quality of his recent fights. Here’s Dana White calling him out by name while discussing the UFC’s decision to cut Jon Fitch: “Riddle fights just like Fitch. Has been lately, anyway. He went from being super exciting to now he wants to grab your legs and hold you down.”

Riddle had long maintained that he doesn’t use marijuana to get high, but for therapeutic purposes. As Riddle explained on The MMA Hour last October:

“I do smoke but I’m not smoking to get stoned. I’m smoking so I can finally relax, sit back and just not worry about things. People, maybe they did it in college one way, but for a guy like me, for a professional athlete that goes through what we go through, it’s medicine for me. Maybe for some little stoner sitting on the couch playing XBox, for him, it’s a drug. For me, it’s medicine…

(It’s kind of offensive that the UFC promos keep referring to Barao as a “monster.” He’s a human being, okay? An aggressive, scary human being whose mother just happens to be half-cthulhu / Photo via MMAJunkie.)

Leading us through today’s UFC on FUEL 7 liveblog is Alex Giardini, who will be laying down round-by-round results from the main card broadcast after the jump beginning at 3 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please share your own thoughts in the comments section.

On the heels of a disappointing victory via injury over Duane Ludwig at UFC on FUEL 5, Mills will be looking to extend his octagon record to 3-1 with a victory over Riddle, who is fresh off a unanimous decision victory over John Maguire at UFC 154. Although Riddle has developed for putting on exciting brawls in his last few performances, he might want to avoid these kind of shenanigans against a power striker like Mills, who proved to Rick Flair-impersonator Chris Cope that he is not a fan of theatrics in his UFC debut.

But whatever Riddle did say to Randleman’s wife must have been a doozy, because in his recent interview with MiddleEasy, Randleman absolutely lost his shit when Riddle’s name was brought up, calling him a “bitch ass motherfucking pussy” (4 STRIKE COMBO!!) among other things. Making it all the more hilarious was the fact that Randleman’s profanity-laden rant came less than 30 seconds after he discussed what it was like to finally be a role model for his son now that he was removed from all the negative publicity he’s received in the past. You just don’t see that kind of irony everyday.

After the jump: The low down on what allegedly led to the beef between Riddle and Randleman, as told by a UGer claiming to be a former ring announcer for Pure MMA.

Following his submission-of-the-night victory over Chris Clements at UFC 149, Matt Riddle tested positive for marijuana, according to a new report from MMAJunkie. The Calgary Combative Sports Commission suspended Riddle for 90 days retroactive to the July 21 event, which means the TUF 7 vet will be out of action until…well, today. Crisis averted.

For UFC fighters — most of whom don’t compete more than once every three months anyway — the 90-day suspension is more of a “hey bro, not cool” kind of gesture, rather than something that’s actually punitive; all it really prevented Riddle from doing was taking an ill-advised short-notice fight directly after his last appearance. Then again, the UFC still hasn’t scheduled his next fight, so maybe they’re going to make him stew for a bit. Riddle’s just lucky this happened in Canada rather than Nevada, or he could have been out of action for an entire year.

As anyone who has married friends will tell you, no matter how funny it is to let said friend complain about how terrible/annoying/insufferable their wife is, you are never to make fun of said wife unless given a direct order to do so. Apparently something of this nature went down between Kevin Randleman and Matt Riddle recently, as Randleman recently unleashed nothing short of a deluge of threats aimed at Riddle over Twitter, citing alleged comments Riddle had made to his wife as his reasoning for wanting to “rip a piece off” the TUF 7 alum.

Just check out the anger in the tweets that await you after the jump. A line has clearly been crossed.